Here are some pictures of my recent trip to Colorado, 5 days of tenkara!

Although I never fish in lakes, as I hiked past a lake I noticed this Greenback Cutthroat cruising about 30ft from the shore. Too much to resist

After getting my “fix” for a fish off the lake, I simply watched them cruising along. With a lot of stealth I walked on top of a log and waited for them to come by. All pictures are taken with a Sigma DP2, with no zoom and a “as-you-see-it” field of view. So this is how close I was to the fish

The scenery is hard to beat

Those dots are elk – very hypnotizing calls

The famous South Platte, at Cheesman Canyon

Karel fighting a very good fish – lost at last second when I distracted him. Probably a good 16-17″

A frosty morning today. My watch read 22 degrees at the time I woke up. First priority: hot coffee!

Cutt-bow hybrid today. Lost the big one that came after this, OF COURSE!

Great report, Daniel, like a magazine article .. only more immediate! I love your hot coffee pic – you managed to get the “feel” of a freezing morning in the mountains. I loved your watch saying “22 degrees.” Took me by surprise, cause my watch typically says 22:00 *hours”! Lol!

When I backpack in Colorado, I often end up base-camping at a high lake. My first Tenkara experiences are fishing in the lakes. Prior to that I was a spin fisher. It was a real joy to see the trout come up from deep in the lake and take my floating fly. I haven’t managed to do much stream fishing (and almost no catching). Looking forward to getting back to Colorado next year. (I live in central Texas).

That is still up to dispute. We do not recommend using tenkara to target large fish (e.g. over 20″, large carp, etc). But, on the occasion one is hooked it really depends a lot more on the angler than on the rods. The rods can hold up pretty good size fish.
In the forum there have been a few trout in the 24-25″ range, several in the 20″ range including carp, chubs, and even a bonefish.
I know of someone who fought a 8-9lb carp for a couple of minutes before the hook came off, someone caught a salmon in the UK which broke off as he was about to grab its tail and was estimated to be in the 10lb area.
For the most part I’d recommend using it for targeting fish up to 20″ only.

Enjoy your site. After retiring from the Army, I’m moving to New Mexico and will be buying a rod/gear from you once I get settled. Like to support small business when I can. Can’t wait to jump into this style.